More baby stuff!

    One of the greatest joys I have right now in my life is being able to watch George and Gracie raising their family.  I get such a wonderful feeling of happiness whenever I see them or hear them.  Being allowed to be in there flock is amazing.  Yes I'm the outsider, but they still look for me and talk to me whenever I'm around.  I think of myself as the distant Aunt they love to visit every once in a while.  George still talks to me all the time and most times comes looking for me.  Gracie has, WOW, changed a lot since this summer.  She is staying in the tree now when I come up to the feeding station.  She is still very very cautious, but if the energy is right and I don't have Deegan with me then everything is grand!.
     Thursday was an interesting day.  I got to watch Gracie a lot and I also got to watch the babies really work their wings for the past couple of days.  I also got some video of the babies and Gracie in flight.  They are very acrobatic right now.  They have gotten so much better now that they have gotten bigger.  Here are some new photos.

As you can see the babies are on the log and if you look closely you can see Gracie right above them on the stump.  From what I can gather from left to right is Angel, Demon and Runt.  Demon is fearless and is very attached to his daddy.  Here is a photo of Demon in flight.

This next photo is Demon at the top of the birch tree watching daddy get some food.  It wasn't until Tuesday that George and Gracie have started bringing the babies to the feeding station.  

Later that afternoon I got some video of kids and Gracie in flight.  They flew over my head talking to me the whole time.  The one that you hear in the video the most is Demon.  He not only talks to me when he sees me, but he also was looking for George who happened to be in one of the trees close by.  I didn't get video of him in flight, BUT I did get this photo of him flying after his family and he talked to me on the way by.  You will see that is beak is partically open.  Just at the moment he was talking to me and you can also see that his eye is trained on me.  Neat isn't it?!

Another thing I noticed was whenever Demon got to talking to much it seems like George was reprimanding  him.  Because when George spoke to Demon it sounded like SHUT UP!!!!  Hahaha!!!  Below is the video of the kids flying around.  Enjoy!  I'm sure that I will have more in the future!  Thanks for stopping by George: The Old Silo Raven! George and I appreciate it!

Busy day for the Ravens!

     Even though I had one of the busiest and most difficult days yesterday I still managed to get some great pics and observe George and his family.  Yesterday morning on the way to the farm I got to the top of the hill.  At the top of the hill on the Old Silo Road you can see the farm from the road.  There is about 25 acres there so the road goes next to the pastures really well and you can see all of our critters from there!  Well when I got to the top I started to slow down.  I had plenty of time before I had to actually be there.  I slowly made my way down the road and looked into the field and saw Gracie and George sitting on the fence posts!

George is on the left and Gracie is on the right.

So I stopped and pulled over.  Because where they are the babies are very close by!  And they didn't disappoint.  This next couple of photos told me a lot about George and Gracie and how ravens teach their young.  AND I made a brand new discovery.  Not only did I learn how ravens teach their young about food I found that we have THREE babies and not two.  I was so surprised!!!  And if you can see the photo up close you can count bodies!!!

How they got to this point was amazing!  George apparently had a big piece of suet.  The babies were making all kinds of noise.  I will try to record them so you can hear what we have to listen to on a daily basis!  

George jumped down onto the ground and Gracie followed suit.  Then like a flash three babies landed in front of them in a half circle and began begging for food.  They would try get the food away from George, but Gracie would intervene and George would peck at and move it around. He was clearly trying to teach them something.  Every time he broke a piece off all three would squat down, spread their wings and make all sorts of racket!!!  I named the little one Runt.  He is so much smaller than his siblings.  They stayed like this for a few minutes.  Something spooked them in the woods and I got photos of two of the babies flying away.  Its great fun watching them deal with the wind currents.  They are struggling right now, but soon they will be doing all sorts of turns and twrills!!! 

The one of the left is Demon and the other one is the middle child.

It was really foggy yesterday morning that is why the photos are so dusky looking.  Also these photos are cropped so you could get a better look.  I'm planning on getting a camera with a better zoom for Christmas this year.  Debating on what to get, but something more wildlife friendly.  

I also got some video of Gracie in action!  Yesterday I fed them ham, suet, hot dogs, hamburger rolls, and of course their eggs.  Since we found out they have three babies we have increased their eggs by one or two.

And the suet I gave them this morning was after I watched them in the field, so the food that George had was from one of his stashes.  So that may be what George was trying to teach them.  

Below is one of the photos that I took of Gracie yesterday morning.

And this is her taking one of the eggs!

I'm just waiting for the video to upload so I trying to remember everything that happened yesterday.  OH! I just remembered one more thing that happened yesterday!!!  We had gone out to dinner, Kathy and I, we brought home some french fries, a part of a hot turkey sandwich and a little bit of mash potato.  Kathy and I were in the barn tending to our sick horse Peaches when George did a fly by and called to us!  He saw that there was food on the roof!  He loves his french fries!!!  I wonder if he will share with the babies or if he will keep his chocolate to himself!!  Hahaha!

So that is all that happened yesterday with the raven family!  Still waiting for the video to load.  

Finally!  Here is the video.  Please forgive the poor quality. I was shooting through a window, but you will get the jest of it.

Thank you for stopping by George: The Old Silo Raven! George and I appreciate it!

I HAVE BABY PICTURES!!!!!!!!

     I'm so excited!!!  I got baby pictures today!  Not just one, but a couple!!!!  AND George and Gracie have 2 babies not 1!!!!  I have been jumping for joy all day.  I couldn't wait to get my day done so I could share baby pictures with you all!
     How I found them this morning was very very easy.  The two young ones are extremely noisy right now.  I had a blast watching them fly around trying to find mom and dad.  Talking frantically with each other.  One is definitely bigger than the other.  And I really can't believe how big they are compared to George and Gracie.
     I walked around the farm today doing chores when I heard the babies making all sorts of racket.  I covered my eyes and looked out into the pasture and I spotted all four of them in a tree!  My heart stopped. Then all of a sudden they flew off and flew around and around.  George and Gracie did fly bys to see if I had put food out there this morning which I did of course.  After a half an hour of listening to them move in huge circle around the farm they showed up again in the tree that I originally saw them in.  I walked to the truck, cursing myself with each step BECAUSE I forgot my camera.  I thought for sure I was going to miss them.  I hightailed it back to the pasture and sure enough they were still there!  I walked out as far as I dared to and this is what I got.  It was really foggy this morning.  George and Gracie on are the left and the babies on the right!!!

There they are!!!!

I'm such a proud Auntie!!!!!  Wow are they noisy!  I think they talk louder than Squeak and Squawk from last year.  I think I will call the louder of the two Demon cause he doesn't talk like a raven yet.  He screeches and screams like a demon.  I haven't decided what to call the other one yet, but I can't wait to watch them more.

They keep close to the barn and have a huge circle surrounding the farm.  They don't go back to the nest hardly at all anymore.  So I'm wondering if they are roosting somewhere else or if they just go to the nest at night.

A couple of other things happened again today which was surprising.  We were almost ready to leave to go to the other farm when I  kept hearing George talk over and over and over again.  Then he started using his voice that he uses to get my attention.  I knew then that something wasn't quite right.  

I walked up the driveway with my camera in hand in case babies were about and I took my daughter and her friend with me to the upper cow pasture.  That is where George was making all the racket.  It took my a few minutes, but I found George!

He was way up in this massive pine tree.  He keep talking and when he saw me he kept going on and on.  I tried to tell him it was alright.  Then I noticed that he looked down.  I could only see him from the camera lens because he was so far away.  Once I realized he was looking down this is what he was trying to tell me.

That's right!!!  We had a fox in our cow pasture!  Isn't she beautiful!  She was looking for a den I think!  She looks as though she might be pregnant.  George was having such a fit about that fox being there.  I finally shooed her off and George immediately calmed down.  So the danger had passed.

George is extremely protective with his babies.  This is the only time of the year that I can't get really close to him.  Which I don't mind at all.  The more ravens we have the better.  

After I chased the fox away we left to go to the other farm.  We stayed up there all day.  We got home around 4pm.  When we parked the truck and got out I went to my truck and I heard the babies carrying on. This is what I saw.

That is George on the right and one of the babies on the left.  George was out in the upper cow pasture teaching the babies how to hunt for bugs and worms!  

George on the left and baby on the right.  George at this point has seen me, but I wasn't a threat because I was so far away.  These photos are also cropped that is why they are a little fuzzy.

George again on the left and baby on the right.  I wasn't sure which baby this was until.

George and baby flew off into the trees.  I found that the one with him at that point was Demon.  And this next one is Demon by himself.

He was just sitting on that branch talking away.  His little brother/sister was making some noise too, but Demon sure has his sibling beat!

This is so exciting for me.  Just the fact that I have something wonderful to look forward to every single morning.  Yes, it is in the form of a bird, but they sure do bring a smile to my face.  If the weather is nice tomorrow we may be going riding.  I wonder if George will follow us with the babies in tow or not?

Thanks for stopping by George: The Old Silo Raven!  George and I appreciate it!

Have you ever seen a Raven mad!!!!

     I haven't been able to do another egg test yet because of all the rain we are having here in Vermont.  BUT something did happen that amazed me.  I have finally seen George and Gracie's baby.  They only had one this year.  I don't know what happened because Ravens will lay anywhere between 3 to 7 eggs.  George and Gracie have only been able to produce 2 at one time.  This troubles me!  I'm so afraid that the construction near their nesting site may have been a factor.  We will never know.
    Knowing that George and Gracie have this one precious little baby I'm sure you can imagine how protective they are.  I did get a photo of George and the baby in flight.  Its far away, but George is the higher bird and the baby is lower.  You can see the difference in size from the baby to George.  He has a lot of growing up to do to fill those wings!!!!.

I first saw the baby with George and Gracie the other day.  They were in the road by the cow pasture.  It took me completely by surprise.  I slowed right down.  They quickly got the baby in a tree. Gracie took off, but George stayed with the baby.  I rolled down my window and said hello to George.  He responded by clamping his beak.  I said hello to the baby and it cocked its head at me.  A new family member! How exciting.  Once baby raven are out of the nest they stay with their parents for 6 months.  So this should give me ample time to get a photo in.  I haven't named the baby yet I need to see its personality.  I can tell you though that this baby is not nearly as noisy as the two from last year.  I'm assuming its because it has no competition.

With all of this information. You will find this funny and amazing!  Yesterday I fed George and Gracie their food.  They got some roast beef, eggs, and meatloaf.  Surprisingly they didn't eat the meatloaf.  The Blue jays helped themselves though!  They couldn't get enough of it.  Gracie came to the feeding station more than George did.  Now that the baby is out of the nest George is going to be extremely protective.  Gracie gets to relax some.  They acted this way last year with the other two babies.  Its a nice partnership that George and Gracie have!

Back to my story.  George had been pretty vocal most of the morning.  Sometimes he called me, other times he was looking for Gracie or he would do flybys with the baby in tow.  But what really got me was I had finished all of my chores.  I went into the house and took my spot in the dining room to wait and take photos of George and family.  

All of a sudden George and Gracie start vocalizing like you wouldn't believe.  All sorts of different sounds were coming from them.  They clearly were not happy.  It wasn't until I saw Gracie flying around in tight circles that I noticed who she mad at.

That's right!  That naughty boy Zack had wondered to close to the Ravens and Gracie was telling him under no uncertain terms he was not welcomed.  Now I didn't see Zack until I paid attention to Gracie.  And it wasn't until she perched that I saw Zack running for his life into the goose pen.  Here are the photos of how she was looking at him and the end result.

                                       
She landed on this branch first.  I followed her line of sight and saw Zack running for his life into the goose pen.

At that point Zack was inside the goose pen.  Zack moved so fast that I wasn't able to get a shot of him going into the pen.  Then she moved down one more branch.

She kept her eye on him very very well.  She realized that she couldn't get a good look from that vantage point so she went to the fence.  There she could get a "birds eye view".

Look how mad she is!!!!!

Gracie realized that Zack would probably come out the other door.  Which he did and she was right there to let him know it wasn't ok for him to be around her baby!

Zack even thought he would try to talk some sense into her, but she wasn't having any of it.  At that point I hollered for Zack and he welcomed the get away.  Gracie watched him run to the house and make his way through the window before she left!  She even gave a Victory wing spread and then went back to George and the baby.

Within a few moments George came by and took the other egg.

Then Gracie came back after a little while and tried her hand at some roast beef and so did George!

Petite little Gracie!

Big Burly George.  

Sometimes its hard to tell them apart.  Its all in how they move and their feathers when they either land or fly off.  George has one of his wing feathers missing and Gracie's tail feathers are ruined because of the egg setting.

I wonder if Zack has learned not to mess with the Ravens?  I guess we shall see!  

Thanks for stopping by George: The Old Silo Raven!

George and I appreciate it!

The Egg Test: Day 2

     Sorry that I haven't written in a couple of days.  The weather hasn't been that great for my camera to be outside.  I did however get this new footage and the third egg.  This video is the second video, but third egg. The second egg was blue.  Bright blue. I tried to get footage, but they saw me set up the camera and I think they have the timing down because they showed up on the roof just as the camera got done.  I did get to observe though which egg they chose.  I had two eggs on the roof.  One was the blue one and the other was a greenish regular egg.  What surprised me was that it was Gracie that showed up first and she took the blue egg first.  George came right after that and took the other one.  

     This third egg test and second video will show you not only which egg George took first, but you will be able to see how he interacts with the camera.  I did move it back so it wasn't so close.  That seemed to help a little bit.

     Also yesterday I gave him something new.  I had some left over Chicken Alfredo with broccoli in it.  I decided to give it a try to see if he would like it or not.  Here is the proof that George loves my cooking!

I almost forgot!  I did manage to get a photo of George taking the white egg yesterday.

So here is the video that I made for the third egg test!  Enjoy!

Thank you for stopping by George: The Old Silo Raven!  

George and I appreciate it!

The Egg Test

I finally have started my experiment with George and the colored eggs.  It was interesting and fun and I learned a few do's and don'ts with taking video which means they will only get better!!!!  Thanks for stopping by George: The Old Silo Raven! George and I appreciate it!!!

A new photo contest!

I have entered a new photography website that you can feature your photography and win prizes.  My first submission was a photo of George.  The link is below.  Please stop by there and vote for George's photo!  We appreciate it very very much!
Thanks for stopping by George: The Old Silo Raven! George and I appreicate it!







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What a day!

     Busy Busy Busy!!!  That's me alright.  Sorry I haven't been on to tell you my stories.  Working on a farm and being a single parent is a lot of work.  But I promise you I do have some George tales AND some brand new video.  But first I will tell you a story.
     It was a pretty exciting day.  I got to see George and Gracie today.  I even got a couple of seconds of video of Gracie this morning.  She and George kept taking turns to go the feeding station and bringing the food back to the nest.  I think the babies have started out of the nest.  They were traveling in a different direction this morning and were very very chatty.  So maybe the babies are able to explore now.  I will keep a sharp eye out!!!!
     I got to hang with George of a few minutes.  I set my camera up with him in view.  I swear he must hear the camera going.  Maybe he can see himself in the lens.  I have to edit that piece of video before I can show it to you, but wait til you see George react and look at the camera.
      I do have two very short videos to show you.  Yesterday I brought George out some food.  Now you know that George loves to pick on the Geese.  I was taping George and I caught the geese and George reacting to each other.  It is so funny.  You will have to watch the geese as George approaches and how George reacts to the geese as they go into their pen.  It is never boring on the farm.  I truly don't need a television when I have all sorts of drama, comedy, action, horror and a little sci fi right there at the farm

After I got this video things had calmed down quite a bit.  I stayed busy on the farm and at one point I saw George on a new perch.  I hadn't seen him use this post before.

He stayed here for quite a while.  He has been hanging around the farm more and more lately.  Its been fun to be walking in the field and all of a sudden hear the whoosh whoosh of some powerful wings go right over your head.  I'm waiting for him to all of a sudden land on my shoulder.  After I took these photos I guess he had to amuse himself.  See the pile of wood just behind George.  This is what he did at the pile.

Then he decided that he had played enough with the woodpile and left me.

The past couple of days George and Gracie have been switching on and off getting food and bringing back to the nest.  What is really cool about this next video is that I caught George in the act of stashing a couple pieces of pork chop that I had on the roof.  I haven't seen many videos of Raven's stashing food and if you notice you will see that at the end he actually catches me video taping him and then takes off.  He movements are subtle, but once you learn his moves you will see what I see.

Sorry about the end of that video I was trying to follow him through but lost track of him. 

 George also the other day had to keep moving around and around the farm because a crow was following him.  George would try to hide his food then either see or hear the crow.  George would panic and take his food and try to stash it somewhere else or fake it.  I have seen him fake stashing food within the past couple of days as well. That is something I haven't seen him do before until this spring.  Gracie has blessed us more and more.  She is still very timid, but she is sticking around a little bit more all the time.

Another thing George has had to contend with lately are all of the male Red Winged Blackbirds.  They have several nests around the farm and since George is such a great egg thief he has to contend with all of the males grabbing at his tail feathers, chasing him around in the air or dive bombing him while he is in his perch.  My goal is to capture it with on video or on a photograph.  I love having little challenges like this that I have set up for myself.  It keeps me thinking all the time.  And next week I'm going to start my colored egg study and see what colors George will or will not take.  So stay tuned!!!

Thanks for stopping by George: The Old Silo Raven!  George and I appreciate it!!!

My Sidekicks!!!

     Today I had the funniest morning!  I took it fairly easy today.  I just wanted to enjoy the wonderful weather we are having here in Vermont.  I started out my morning like I usually do.  I got the medicine for Peaches ready then I went to the fridge and tried to figure out what to give George for his breakfast.  So I decided to give him a light breakfast.  If you have been following along then you know that I feed George more than what he would normally eat in the wild.  Part of this his training, the other part is feeding other critters, and figuring out what other birds like to eat.  For instance, Blue Jays and Starlings will eat other meat.  Like chicken, hamburger and pork chops.  If the pieces are small enough they will almost gorge themselves on the meat.  The only thing that George will not eat and this is such a typical kid thing to do.  George will not eat his veggies!  NO SIR!!!!  Keep those greens right off his feeding station by golly!!!  George will throw the greens right off the roof.  I have seen him do this with broccoli.  He likes to take the green beans in his mouth, wait for a goose to go right under the eaves of the roof and he will try to drop the green beans on a goose's head.
     Sorry, I got off track.  This morning for breakfast George got his two eggs with two hamburger buns and some beef liver that I cut up into small strips so he could bring some back to the nest.  He didn't take more than 2 minutes to get his eggs.
     I also did something different with him today.  Lately for the past week or so George has made himself seen, but not seen.  That is out of the his character from this winter.  George would stay with me for hours at a time and now I hardly see him.  And when I do see him he treats me like I'm a stranger.  So after he showed up I dissed him.  He landed on the birch tree and clapped his beak at me and cocked his head.  Normally by that point I would have said, "Hi George, Good Boy George." then I would have turned and walked away.  His release from the pressure of me talking to him while he stays in one place on the tree.
     Instead of talking to George, I looked up at him and turned my back on him without saying a word or looking back.  My theory seemed to work.
     While I was ignoring George, Deegan and I went around the pasture to take pictures and look at fence lines.  The whole time George would croak at me above my head waiting for me to say something.  I completely ignored him.  Deegan and I would stop here and there taking pictures or mending fence as we went.  After we went into the house and I watched as George flew around the house a couple of times.  Deegan and I went back out after we got a drink and I decided I wasn't quite ready to do chores yet so I grabbed a pail of water from the stalls and practiced my action/water shots.  I took different things and dropped in them into the pail.  I would take photos of the splash.  Here is one of the photos I took today.

Deegan and I did this for about a half an hour.  After that I went and started chores.  Well the geese were having a fit.  They make a certain type of ruckus when George is around.  So I went out into the grain shed and pulled out some bread. I fed the geese a little bit and all of a sudden I heard a whoosh, whoosh noise coming from behind and above me.  That  crazy bird didn't land in the birch tree or on the roof.  He landed right above me in the Willow tree.  At this point I still wasn't talking to him.  He tried everything to get my attention.  I slowly got my camera and walked back to the fence post and started taking photos of George. After the third or fourth photo I finally greeted him and told him he was a good boy.  Since he stayed with me the whole time I went into the house and gave him an egg to reinforce the behavior of him staying with me.  George even stayed there in the Willow tree the whole time I was in the house and it took him a few minutes to take the egg.  He then flew around the barn with it.  I think today he was trying to hide his food differently.  I have four crows here at the farm.  They have been making themselves a nuisance to George lately.  They have been ganging up on him and stealing food from George's stashes.  He flew around the barn several more times before landing in the Willow tree again.  Here are some shots of him in the Willow tree.

George hung up in that Willow tree for nearly an hour.  He didn't leave until I went back into the house.  But before I did go in the house I went back inside the grain shed and got some bread to put on the roof for George.  He didn't leave once in almost an hour.  He stayed there the whole time and watched me and Deegan do chores.  Again the bread on the roof is a positive reinforcer for him staying with me.  Now I don't want you to think that I want to completely tame George.  I don't.  I want George to very much as wild as possible.  It's just nice to have a relationship with such an intelligent bird.  I also get to see a side of raven's that most people don't get to see.  I feel very blessed.

After we got with chores Deegan and I went into the house.  George at one point must have lost track of me somehow because he flew around the house not once, but twice.  We know that George knows my truck.  Truck is still in the driveway so Sierra is still that the farm.  The second time George passed around the house he landed right on this post.

Kathy and I were watching him for a couple of minutes. I got some great shots of him on that post.  One of my favorites is this one!

We have no idea what made him jump like that, but it was funny.  He reacted to whatever it was that scared him like a mouse scarring a woman.  It was so funny!  We were laughing so hard.  And I can't believe I stayed focus long enough to get this shot!!!!

I then went out onto the front porch and got some more great shots of him.

.

This one he is saying, "HAW! I found you Sierra!"  After he found me he took off.  What a crazy wonderful bird!!!!  He hung around with me on that farm all morning!!!  It was nice to see him, flying around free in the sky.  And at one point of George taking food off.  He was in one corner of the woods when all of sudden Gracie started making a racket.  Next thing I know George is flying toward the nest like his tail was on fire. The only thing I can think of is that the men who are working on the highway are getting to close to the nest.  I wish there was something I could do.  I may have to go over into the median sometime this weekend and take a peak and make sure the nest is alright.  Maybe I'll even leave a note and some donuts to those guys.  Maybe they will think its cute and maybe stay away from the nest.  Oh, I don't know.  I guess I will figure it out when I need to.  What a great day.  Isn't George just beautiful?  He is probably one of the best looking Ravens I have ever seen.  He truly is a credit to the Raven species!!

Thank you for stopping by George: The Old Silo Raven.

George and I appreciate it.